23 October 2007
Innocence
Excellent interview with Richard Halpern about his book Norman Rockwell: The Underside of Innocence. His question: America's always been involved in horrendous transgressions so why are we continually shocked when they come to light? My simple answer: some are shocked by the evil of the action and not necessarily by the actor, while others less historically informed are understandably shocked by the actor. This isn't the stuff that 6th grade Social Studies classes should be composed of, and not everyone goes to college or digs deeper into American history. However, the information is (generally) there for those who want to know.
It still doesn't make the evil of America's actions against Maher Arar and continued actions to ignore responsibility any more palatable. Nor does it make the FBI's threats to torture a man's family and their subsequent disappearing of the evidence easy pills to swallow.
America can be as evil as any other country, and as a sole superpower we're simply honing our skills. And, c'mon, wouldn't it be boring if our only national shames were Native American genocide and slavery?
- It's not him, it's us posted by sstrader on 5 May 2016 at 9:26:33 PM
- More political transcriptions posted by sstrader on 20 March 2016 at 10:19:06 AM
- Health cost posted by sstrader on 18 September 2015 at 10:39:05 AM
- Assassination dept. posted by sstrader on 18 December 2013 at 11:58:24 PM
- Repeat posted by sstrader on 6 September 2013 at 8:19:58 PM